|
For the past 17 years, The Filipino Express has provided the Filipino American community the best news, arts and entertainment coverage from around the United States and the Philippines.
|
|
This website includes selected articles from this week's edition of the Filipino Express. Not all the stories published in the printed version appear on this site.
|
|
|
|
To tell us what you think about Filipino Express Online or to comment on the stories published here, E-mail us at Filexpress@aol.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Victim says nurse touched him with hands and mouth
|
|
|
Thirty-five-year old Caleb Rasay, a nurse at Broward General Medical Center, is charged with sexual assault after he allegedly touched an incapacitated patient with his hands and mouth.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Miami, FLORIDA, February 24, 2005 --- A Filipino nurse sexually assaulted a patient who was physically restrained and could not cry for help, the Filipino Express learned last Friday.
Caleb Rasay, 35, who worked for Broward General Medical Center (BGMC) here for one and a half years, reportedly came into the victim’s room and told him he had to perform a “procedure.”
But the 21-year-old male victim, who was not named, told police authorities that Rasay touched him inappropriately with his hands and mouth.
Several hours after the incident, the victim told his family about the abuse, and they alerted the hospital officials.
According to police reports, the sexual assault happened in the early morning hours of Jan. 11.
Rasay was not charged until last week, however, because police could not take a complete statement from the patient until Wednesday, after he was released from the hospital.
During the preliminary investigation, Rasay admitted to wearing gloves and touching the patient with his hands. He initially denied touching the patient with his mouth, but later he confessed he did that accidentally.
Police arrested Rasay and charged him with sexual battery on an incapacitated victim, which is punishable up to life in prison.
On Friday morning, Rasay appeared in bond court. The magistrate increased his bond from $8,500 to $26,000, citing that Rasay could be a flight risk.
As a result of the investigation and action taken by police, Rasay was terminated by BGMC, police said.
In a Miami Herald report, Bob Wright, Rasay's landlord, said the allegations surprised him.
“I mean, every five minutes, there's either a teacher, nurse, doctor, priest, somebody getting blamed for something, you know. And I'm not going to judge anyone until you know more about the facts,” Wright said.
Police said they haven't found any other alleged victims of Rasay during the period of his employment with BGMC.
Police added Rasay has no criminal background of which they know.
Rasay became a registered nurse in Oct. 2003, according to state records.
The Board of Nursing is now studying the facts and will decide what punishment, if any, should be meted out.
If Rasay would be considered an immediate risk to patients, the state could suspend Rasay’s license pending the outcome of the investigation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
San Francisco, CALIFORNIA, February 24, 2005 --- Tacked inside a wooden display case in a rarely visited corner of the San Francisco War Memorial could be the answer to one of the great mysteries of Philippine history: What happened to the original Filipino flag?
The Philippines’ founding president, Emilio Aguinaldo, famously unfurled the original ìStars and Sunî flag when he declared his nationís independence from Spain in 1898, but the banner disappeared during the Filipino-American War that followed.
“It is a mystery in the Philippines that historians have been trying to answer for a long time,” said Rudy Asercion, a member of the American Legionís War Memorial Commission.
Hanging by two thumbtacks in the building’s trophy room is a faded red, white and blue banner that just might be that missing icon.
Asercion said he noticed the artifact while rummaging through the usually locked trophy room last year. He now believes US Gen. Frederick Funston captured the flag during the Filipino-American War and brought it back to San Francisco when he was assigned to the Presidio in 1902.
“My research simply points out that this is the flag,” said Asercion, 63, a third-generation Filipino American who was raised in San Francisco. “It’s too much of a coincidence.”
The National Historical Institute (NHI) in Manila dispatched a representative to inspect the flag, and later sent a letter to the commission saying the banner was “most likely authentic.”
Two prominent Filipino politiciansóSenate President Franklin Dilon and Sen. Richard Gordonóhave visited the War Memorial to see it for themselves, as has Ed Malaya, consul at the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco.
“I am excited about the prospect that this flag may be the original Philippine flag,” said Malaya, who has written a book about Filipino presidential history. “This is a valuable link to our past. People thought that we had lost this history. It is definitely exciting that the flag may still be intact.”
If it proves to be authentic, the Philippine government would very much like to see the flag returned, and there appear to be few objectors in San Francisco, where the Board of Supervisors passed a resolution this month urging the American Legion to investigate its history.
Aguinaldo, who led the Filipino insurgency against Spain, designed the flag when he was living in exile in Hongkong in the late 1890s. Aguinaldo asked fellow exile Marcella Agoncillo to assemble the flag, which was made from fine satin --- an unusual material for flags at the time.
Inspired by other flags flown during the Philippine uprising, the Aguinaldo flag featured a hand-painted sun to symbolize the dawn of Philippine sovereignty, three stars to represent the countryís three regions and eight rays to honor the provinces that first rose up against three centuries of Spanish rule.
“The flag is a work of art,” Asercion said.
Spain had declared a truce with Filipino insurgents and was fighting the United States when Aguinaldo returned to the Philippines in 1898. In a scene reenacted throughout the Philippines each June 12, the country’s independence day, Aguinaldo appeared on his balcony and unveiled the flag while the Filipino national anthem was played for the first time.
“In a sense, this flag saw the birth of the Philippine nation,” Malaya said. “This is the single moment in our history that the Filipino people felt that they were independent and free. The whole country was united, and there was a growing consciousness that we were one people.”
But the country’s independence was short-lived. Later that year, the United States won the Spanish-American War and Spain ceded the Philippines to the Americans. The following year, Aguinaldo became the Philippines’ first president and declared war on the United States, organizing a guerrilla campaign against the new colonizers.
No one knows for sure what happened to the flag during Aguinaldo’s brief rule, but Asercion believes that US troops led by General Funston confiscated it when they captured Aguinaldo in 1901 and put an end to the insurgency. The Philippines would not regain sovereignty until after World War II, following more than 40 years of American colonization and Japanese occupation.
Asercion stumbled upon the flag in the War Memorial Building last summer when he was gathering artifacts for an exhibit celebrating the 60th anniversary of the 1944 arrival of US forces in the Philippines.
He found the stained satin banner tacked into the side of a dusty cabinet filled with antique swords donated to the American Legion decades ago. A catalogue contained only this sparse description: hand-made, torn, No. 35.
Asercion didnít think much about the worn-out flag until his friend Yolanda Ortega Stern noticed that it was made from satin --- shiny on one side and dull on the other.
“When Yolanda told me that the flag was made of satin, it triggered my memory,” Asercion said. “I said, ‘This could be the flag that Aguinaldo made’.”
Asercion is now convinced that the San Francisco flag is the original, but he hopes that archival records will help him prove it beyond a doubt. He believes it was donated, along with other war memorabilia, to the American Legion more than 70 years ago, after Funston and his wife died.
A committee co-chaired by Stern has been formed to restore the flag, which has not been moved because of its brittle condition.
Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval said he hopes the flag will help open up a dialogue about what the United States did in the Philippines a century ago, and the ìspecial relationshipî that exists between the two countries.
“It doesnít take a Ph.D. to realize that this flag is of astounding historical significance,” said Sandoval, whose district includes a large Filipino-American population. ìItís just crying out to be recognized, properly displayed and used as a tool for educating people about a conflict that happened 100 years ago that most people don’t know much about.” (MNS)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
NEW YORK, February 24, 2005 --- The United States federal government has reportedly seized a real estate property belonging to retired Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia at the upscale Trump Park Avenue in New York City.
A New York Post report said federal authorities have filed the papers to take over the condominium unit belonging to Garcia.
Garcia, former comptroller of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), is accused of laundering over $2 million last year in the United States.
Investigators said he used $765,000 of the money to buy Apartment 6A at 502 Park Avenue for his wife, Clarita and son Timothy.
Apart from the Trump Park property, Garcia also owned an apartment in another wealthy New York address and a house and lot in Ohio.
Garcia, his wife Clarita, son Timothy and another son are facing charges before the Ombudsman for alleged violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (RA 3019) and the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Official and Employees (RA 1379).
The general is also facing two separate cases before the Ombudsman: one, for dishonesty, grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of service; and the other, for dishonesty and grave conduct unbecoming of a public officer.
Garcia is also facing charges before the Judge Advocate General’s Office for violation of Article of War 96 (conduct unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman) and Article of War 97 (conduct prejudicial to good order and military discipline). (MNS)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MANILA --- The land of milk and honey making the Philippines a land of milking cows?
According to Sen. Ralph Recto, the United States Embassy in Manila collects about P2 billion a year from Filipinos applying for visas.
Recto, chairman of the Senate committee on ways and means, said the embassy charges a non-refundable application fee of $100 or P5,500, for a B-1 or B-2 visa.
A B-1 is issued to an individual who wants to go to the US on business while a B-2 is given to one who intends to visit relatives or tourist destinations in the US.
All in all, Recto estimates, the embassy rakes in from P630 million to P2.06 billion annually, based on a minimum 450 visa applications a day.
Recto was quoting figures cited in a resolution filed by 72 congressmen in 2003.
The solons claimed that 80 per cent of the visa fees, or P503 million, represented denied applications, and asked the US government to donate the amount to the school-building program of the Department of Education.
Immigration specialist Crispin Aranda gave a higher estimate of visa applicants in Manila.
Quoting US consular officials, Aranda said 200,000 non-immigrant visas were issued in Manila in 2002. The embassy “interviews anywhere from 1,200 to 1,500 applicants a day six days a week.”
Using the lower estimate of 1,200 US visa applicants a day, Recto said, around 375,000 seek the “much-sought-after gate pass” to the States every year.
If they pay P5,500 each, then the US Embassy collects about P2.064 billion a year. Of this amount, nearly P1 billion came from denied applications,” Recto said. “That building by the boulevard is really a cash register.”
If the embassy collects only half of the estimated annual P2 billion from visa fees, it would have become the fourth-highest in nontax collection if it were a Philippine government agency, the senator observed.
This year, the Department of Finance is expected to collect as much as P48 billion in nontax revenues, followed by Department of Transportation and Communications, P6.5 billion; Department of Justice, P3.7 billion; Department of Agriculture, P379 million; Department of Environment and Natural Resources, P343 million; and Department of Health, P212 million.
Reviewing the data, Recto said there is merit in the lawmakers’ appeal to the US government to use part of the collection to fund social projects here: “This is not to disparage the much-ballyhooed US aid to the Philippines, but it is possible that their visa collection is much bigger than what they give us in return, in the form of aid.” (MNS)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
